Paths at the Edge of Night
by Kestrel Harper
Summary: KH through KH2, Spoilers ahoy. One-shot/song-fic. "They had started out so innocent. But now, they would look back at themselves and the paths they take at the edge of night..."


**Summary:** They began so innocent, so curious. But tragedy struck when they sought to fly from the nest. Torn apart and two of them pitted against each other, three friends find themselves looking at themselves and at the paths they take at the edge of night...

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Kingdom Hearts_. Period, end of sentence. That belongs to the hard workers of Disney and Square-Enix, especially one Tetsuya Nomura (whose name I cannot spell for my life, I am so sorry). On that note, I don't own _Lord of the Rings_ or any related works. Those belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and whoever else owns the rights at this point. I most especially don't own the song entitled "The Steward of Gondor," as that belongs to Howard Shore, and the specific segment of said song often referred to as "Edge of Night" (which I use) is not mine either.

As for all the stuff speculating about what happened _before_ KH (possibly during _Birth By Sleep_ and the years between it and the start of KH) and additional motivations on the account of a certain darkness-wielding Keyblade user, that is purely speculation on my part and should not be treated as canon. Some shout-outs I make to other authors who have already made their presence on this site and certain artists who make images too memorable for me to not incorporate in some way are also present, because a number of them hold good points and it is a rather interesting idea to contemplate. Those ideas belong to their original creators (I'm too lazy to look them up - if they ever find this, you know who you are), not me.

**Pairings:** SoKai (to the point of blatant obviousness, I am so sorry), one-sided RiKai, Sora/Riku sibling-like relationship (_NOT_ yaoi)

**Spoiler Warning:** Spoilers for _Kingdom Hearts_, _Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories Reverse/Rebirth_ (which I only have access to the script and uploaded youtube cutscenes, dang it!), and _Kingdom Hearts II._ Read on at your own risk.

~---------~

To you is presented a story  
Of Keys and of Doors,  
Of hearts and of shells,  
Of light, of darkness, and the road to the dawn_._

_---------_

_**~Paths At the Edge of Night~**__  
by Kestrel Harper_

---------

_"Where's Kairi!? I thought she was with you!"_

It had all been so simple. They had just finished the raft two days ago. The supplies had been gathered. They were to set off the next morning - early morning, when no one would notice.

Morning would never come to this place now. The seas were calm, but the winds howled with a dark power, and the dark sphere above the central island of the chain was the final omen that indicated the world's fate was sealed. Destiny Islands was doomed.

_"The door...has opened."_

The darkness didn't scare him. He didn't know why. He didn't _care_ why. They were given the opportunity of a lifetime - the chance to truly fly away from the nest, free to do as they pleased. He was ready - he was certain. All of them were ready.

The time had come.

_"What?"_

_"The door is open, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"_

_"What are you __talking__ about!? We gotta find Kairi!"_

_"__Kairi's coming with us!__"_

He made a promise, long ago, when she first came to the Islands - lost, alone, friendless. They had taken her in, becoming the family she didn't remember. She was the younger sister, and he the eldest brother of three children. They were more just friends - their bonds were as strong as any blood ties.

But there was a problem. He had begun to see her differently than he had in childhood. So had Sora. Kairi was more than "just a friend" in their eyes. The rivalry between the two adoptive brothers had always been evident - everyone on the Islands knew - but slowly, it had been intensifying and growing more and more wild. They were constantly competing for Kairi's attention at almost all times.

Why, then, did she only have eyes for _Sora?_

_"Once we step through, we might not be able to come back.  
We may never see our parents again.  
There's no turning back."_

He hadn't thought about that - what their parents would think, come morning...if morning ever came. Kairi was on good terms with her foster parents. Sora and his mother had always been close. He, however, was the youngest of four boys, and the older three each had some form of mental illness. His mother wouldn't miss him - it would be one less mouth to feed and one less child to worry about. And his father?

He wanted to find his father. To find him, and the world Kairi came from, and all those other worlds out there. His and and Sora's fathers were out there _somewhere_; he knew it.

The last thing he needed was to be held back. He was going to do what Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz had only wishfully dreamt of, after Father left them so many years ago. He would bring their family back together.

_"But this may be our only chance.  
We can't let fear stop us!"_

Euphoria. Giddiness. He never felt so sure of himself, so happy, since he was only a little boy, when Father was still with them...

A voice in his head, his heart, began to speak, but he didn't hear it. If he did, he didn't listen. He thought with his head...

_"I'm not afraid of the darkness!"_

...but not with his heart.

---------

_Home is behind -  
The world ahead.  
And there are many paths to tread._

---------

He gazed out of the glass dome of the cockpit, blue eyes wide in wonder, but hiding a melancholic sadness, a hidden longing for what - for _who_ - wasn't there. He was on his way back to the closest place he would have to a home for a while. After his argument with Donald, the gummi ship was silent.

...well, silent as it would get over the quiet humming of the engines and Goofy's snoring.

A hand covered by a fingerless glove reached into his pocket, withdrawing the new gift he had been given - a wooden carving of a butterfly attached to a braided rope of dried vines. The butterfly was like the ones he saw in the Waterfall Cavern, when the keyhole was locked. It didn't seem to have that illusionary glow of the carving's organic counterpart, but the details had been captured almost perfectly - the blue fading to the orange wing-tips, the "eyes" on the wings themselves, the almost-perfect symmetry, the realistic carving... A work of art with a strange inner power - he could feel it.

Gazing into the eyes of the wings, his thoughts shifted to his primary goal: finding Riku and Kairi. They were out there somewhere, he knew it. He had _seen_ Kairi in the treehouse when Tarzan rescued him; he could have sworn that she was right there in front of him.

_"Friends... same heart.  
Clayton... lose heart."_

Blue eyes shifted to the two other primary passengers of the ship - the duck anthro in a blue and yellow sailor's uniform and cap, flying the ship silently with a look of angered concentration, and the dog-like anthro in a green sweater, gray vest, yellow pants, humongous brown golf shoes, and a yellow/orange cap and goggles, snoring loudly in his seat, his large nose/snout wiggling as his mouth opened and closed with every breath. A saddened look crossed the boy's face - his argument with Donald that resulted in their crash landing was because he had forgotten that they were all in the same boat. The ship's pilot and the sleeping goof were out here on their king's orders: to find him - the bearer of the "key" - and stick with him, no matter what.

They, like he, were searching for a dear friend of theirs...like a brother.

_"No heart, no see friends.  
No heart...no friends."_

For a guy who could barely speak a lick of English, the jungle-man had been a lot wiser than most people he knew.

But his thoughts now shifted to graver matters, recalling what he had been told in Traverse Town. He was being hunted - hunted for his heart, a heart strong enough to wield the Keyblade. The Heartless were hunting him - and his strange weapon - for the power he was just barely learning to utilize and control.

Riku and Kairi were out there. Somewhere, on one of those distant stars, in one of the worlds of this vast expanse the others called interspace, they were lost, likely alone, and confused. He was scared, more for Kairi than for Riku, and more for Riku than himself. Riku was the better of them - but also the more approachable and daring. What if the Heartless - or whoever was behind them - got to him first?

Kairi...Kairi would probably just find some of the Heartless cute and then run. But she didn't know how to fight. Sure, she knew basics - how to punch and how to kick - but if she was swarmed...

He shook his head, dispelling the thought. He and Riku had already lost their fathers to the worlds beyond. There wasn't much use for finding those who were lost almost eleven years ago. That may have been one of the original goals, but now, priorities had changed. He needed to find him - Riku, the friend he could practically call his brother despite their father's differences, and Kairi, the girl he called sister...and the girl he had to admit, yes, he had a crush on.

For their sakes - and his - he could only hope they were alright.

---------

_Through shadow,  
To the edge of night,  
Until the stars are all alight._

---------

He had made a mistake.

And now, he would take the first step to correct it.

_"ANSEM!"_

He rushed forward as shadow erupted from the bat-like blade - the strike was critical one. Perhaps now he wouldn't have to deal with the humanoid Heartless that haunted him. His angered ice-blue eyes contrasted that of the surprised - scared? - vermilion yellow of the tanned, silver-haired man behind him.

The Heartless represented what he allowed himself to become - weak-hearted, weak-willed...powerless. The Heartless was the very personification of the temptations of the dark. Ansem had immersed himself in it too fully, and the result was a need for a human host body. He had been dumb enough to let the darkness in the first time, but never again.

He had almost fallen to a similar fate because of it. He had been filled with rage and jealousy for Sora - the one that Kairi _truly_ liked beyond that of friend and adoptive sibling - that he didn't realize the path he had started to go down, the damage he had caused... The distance and bitterness he had placed between himself and his best friend.

But Sora still came. The impulsive, headstrong, naive brown-haired kid he had wronged back in Hollow Bastion still came, the King's men right behind him. Kairi was waiting for them back on the Islands - the world he destroyed, reborn and waiting for them both - and it was going to hurt her, being stuck there.

For their sakes, he confronted the dark parasite that had used him like a rag-doll and plaything. For their sakes, he learned to quit running away from the light, to not fear the darkness. For their sakes, he would use this power to protect them...and, somehow, someway, to forgive himself.

His grip on the blade tightened, even if the death-blow had been dealt. His voice was firm.

_"This is...the end!"_

The Heartless was practically paralyzed in place, unable to move. The wound had been dealt to his chest, over the emblem that marked the Heartless where his heart should have been if he was human.

Ansem was hurt, and dying, but he wasn't down yet.

_"This...is hardly...the end..."_

He turned to him, glaring at the back of the Heartless. The phantom's final words would continue to haunt him in the months ahead. In hindsight, perhaps he should have just made certain that he died right there and then.

_"Your darkness - I gave it...all to you...  
My dark shadow...lingers... Someday..."_

His eyes narrowed, gritting his teeth in contempt. The light would only grow once the monster in human form was gone. The stars would only glimmer like they did when he was a young child, but only once the man responsible for the destruction of many of them were gone.

Vermilion yellow, filled with malice and what was possibly misplaced confidence, gazed skywards, contrasting the determined and angered ice-blue that had belonged to his "host." The grin on the monster's face was terrifying.

_"Someday...I will __return!__"_

The monster drew the darkness in, and then suddenly burst. Ansem was gone, yes, but the shadows he left behind weren't. The white hall was quickly enveloped in black, and all light was swallowed as quickly as it spread. He attempted to brace himself against the coming surge, his left arm held protectively in front of him as he closed his eyes, shielding them from the dark wind.

Pain raged against his muscles once more. He was tired, growing weaker by the second. His physical body could only take so much damage before sleep - and death - overpowered him. He was only a human kid, after all.

_"Sora... Kairi..."_

_I won't fade. Not until I see you guys one last time..._

Consciousness was fading. He couldn't hold out, but the monster, at least, was going down with him. He had the memories - he could see their faces and hear their voices as if they were talking to him, standing right next to him at that very moment. He could hear them shouting at him - shouting for him to stay awake, to stay _alive._

His crush on Kairi had been only that - a crush. To think that he had let loose a madman without a heart to try and prove himself the one meant for Kairi. He had been stupid, and prideful, and foolish.

Kairi liked Sora. He accepted that now. For their sakes, he had to stay awake. He had to stay alive...

A light. Warm, familiar. A golden glimmer, with a concentrated brightness, clear as day.

_"Gosh, Riku, I know you wanted to do this alone...  
...but you don't mind gettin' a __little__ help, do ya?"_

He smiled, despite the tiredness. Deus ex Mouse King. He let his eyes closed - he could trust King Mickey. He hadn't let him down yet. He was going to be alright.

So would Sora and Kairi.

---------

_Mist and shadow,  
Cloud and shade._

---------

_"Can you spare...a heart?"_

He hadn't been prepared for the attack. There had been a blur of black and white, of silver hair and tanned skin, and the next thing he knew, he was screaming.

The feeling of midair suspension - and being _stuck_ there - only heightened his fear. He knew what he had gotten himself into...

...but by whatever powers that guarded the worlds, he didn't want it to end like _this._

Riku was normal again - as in _Riku_, not Xehanort's Heartless, not in appearance and definitely _not_ in voice. He promised Kairi he'd find him, and then they could go home. And Kairi - he couldn't stop thinking about Kairi, not after confronting Saïx at the Dark Depths. He couldn't die. Not here. Not now. Not when they were _so close..._

He had gotten on his hands and knees and _begged_ for entrance to the World of Darkness, for the chance to see her again - safe and sound, alive, unharmed. He promised her he would com back to her. The thalassa shell charm was proof of that promise.

In the depths of the darkness of his own heart, another voice rose, mixing with his own. Through harming him, the last surviving member of Organization XIII struck at the member he had placed at the core of his plans. And his Nobody - his own Nobody, formed when he sacrificed his heart to restore Kairi - had no intention of separating from his Other.

Not here. Not now.

Not when they still had promises to fulfill.

His Nobody had promised Naminé that they would meet again - that they could finally talk when all of this was over. He promised Kairi to find Riku and come home, _alive._

The idea of Kairi heartbroken served to only further break his own heart.

After a year of separation, of not knowing of the other's location or welfare, when do you cross the line from caring for a friend...to loving them?

---------

_All shall fade..._

---------

_"What happened? What happened to Riku? What happened to __Sora!?__"_

She had felt fear before. She had felt fear when she fled into the Secret Place during that fateful night. She had felt fear when Donald and Goofy led her through Hollow Bastion after Sora vanished into golden lights simply at her touch, when Riku tried to prevent his own body, overtaken by Xehanort's Heartless, from harming them. She had felt fear when Axel took her in Twilight Town, and she had felt fear when she and Naminé stood their ground against Saïx.

None of those times could compare to the terror she felt now.

Donald was blowing a gasket from his position beneath the bridge to the plateau, but not towards any of them. His screaming, heard easily due to that distinguishable quack, was directed at himself. Something about his idiocy for following the King's dog - Pluto, wasn't it? - instead of waiting for them to go through the Dark Corridor first. Though Donald had a short fuse, she knew that making a mistake like that - _again,_ recalling the trio's stories on the way to Traverse Town a year ago - was, to him, a serious offense. He was a loyal friend, incredibly loyal.

The same applied for the shocked goof still sitting in the tide, caught in a daze that was different from his standard reverie. Goofy had been the party's peacekeeper, primarily to restrain Donald when the court magician lost his temper. He was normally so optimistic and cheery. To see him so silent, so..._blank_... It was unnerving.

She turned back to where the Corridor had been, only to gaze out at a blank horizon, void of everything but the orange and pink waters that surrounded the island chain that she, Sora, and Riku called home.

_No... Not again..._

_I didn't just lose them again..._

Blue eyes kept themselves set on the horizon, tears beginning to form and fall down her cheeks, kissed by the rays of the setting sun.

They had been together after so long...

"Something must've shut them out before they could go through."

She turned to the mouse-king, her frightened expression still plain on her features, but the fear was not for _her_ life. The King's dark eyes gazed out past his large black nose to the horizon, the rays of the tropical sun casting the world into a grim twilight.

The King bore an expression of concern, but not worry. He was calm, compared to the rest of them. Donald had fallen into an uncharacteristic silence, induced by worry and fear for the life of a good friend.

"Will they...?"

Her voice failed her. Her heart finished the question for her.

_"Will they make it back?"_

Dark eyes closed as the King bowed his head, folding his arms in contemplation. For a long while, there was silence, exempting the sound of the ocean waves.

"To be honest, Kairi..."

The eyes of the mouse-king opened as his head lifted. He knew that they would survive whatever happened, but to return...

"...all we can do is hope they do."

---------

A twin-souled scream sounded through a realm of nothingness, mixed with the sound of a breaking heart.

Four friends of friends stood on the shores of paradise, watching in silent vigil for the lost in twilight.

Empty eyes watched as the Keybearer's heart began to surface. He would begin his new empire - his Kingdom Hearts - with this one heart. But he overlooked one rather significant detail:

He had forgotten about the dark warrior the Keybearer had been searching for. And they didn't need blood-ties to consider each other family.

A pale hand burst through the Nobody's defenses, grabbing the outstretched hand. Darkness wrestled with nothingness. But the result was precisely what the dark warrior had intended.

The Keybearer fell, his second death barely averted, but the pain had been unbearable.

Ice-blue glared into pools of vermilion yellow.

Vermilion yellow also didn't expect to smacked by the hilt of Way to the Dawn.

The younger silver-haired combatant grabbed the white and black cloak of the Nobody before him, turning him horizontally and spinning him around, then launching him away from the two teens.

Both landed - the elder willed his form to stop in midair as the younger landed on his feet. His right hand was level with his eyes, his left hand stretched out in front of him, the demonic and angelic Keyblade pointed straight at the Superior of Organization XIII. The Keybearer stood, stepping into a deep and wide stance, both hands on the hilt of the gold and silver simplicity that belonged to Kingdom Key. Though wounded, he would live.

It was the Nobody before them, however, that needed to die. For the sake of all worlds - for theirs and their friends' - Xemnas would not be allowed victory.

Not while they were still standing.

They had taken radically different paths to reach this point. Riku nearly drowned in the dark, only to transform it into his greatest strength. Sora primarily stayed in the light, but dove into shadow when the situation called for it.

Blood was thicker than water, true. But that didn't matter to them.

They had been best friends turned into bitter rivals. Bitter rivals somehow became reluctant enemies. Reluctant enemies became mysterious benefactor and seeker of the lost. Now, it had come full-circle - they were best friends through and through, and each others' most trusted ally. Where there had been jealousy and bitterness was now empty memories and a drive to regain what was lost. And until Xemnas was gone, then they weren't going to get it.

Riku smirked. It was the final stage of endgame. A grin appeared on Sora's face - the Keyblade Master didn't even need to hear him to know that it was the Riku he remembered.

Despite the clear overtures of doom that sounded in their hearts, this was a fight they would not back down from.

_"Is that all you got?"_

They charged, continuing the assault against their nemesis. The hits were landed, and blows were hard. Xemnas was being overpowered. They were winning.

A black-gloved hand grabbed the youngest combatant by his shirt, surrounded by crackling blue and black-thorned nothingness.

_"You shall go together."_

Possibly the only true stated fact that Xemnas ever spoke to their faces.

---------

_All shall..._

---------

Once more, the tides began to turn. The battle had shifted to the non-existent skies of the Realm of Nothingness, had become more of an aerial dance than anything. The Keyblade Master fought back against the first founding member of Organization XIII, striking when he could, defending at whatever opportunity he had. The Keybearer of Dawn joined the fray in his best friend's defense, striking the Nobody at all possible turns he could. But their nemesis was trick, constantly teleporting about.

When both his gloved hands became surrounded by orbs of crackling nothingness, Xemnas allowed the two boys to stop the aerial display. The non-existent remnant of Xehanort brought both orbs together, the combined power doubling the size of a single orb and utterly hiding his torso. Slowly, deliberately, his hands raised upwards above his head, and with it, the nothingness he summoned.

_"There is no such thing as light."_

Black thorns burst outward. Gray and white nothingness began to fade to black void. The Keybearers readied themselves and their weapons for what could very well be their final stand. The darker called out the name of the lighter, alerting him to keep his senses open.

A thousand points of faded red light surrounded them both. Through the darkness, the Nobody's laugh pierced their minds, but not their morale.

The lights began to launch. They worked as if they were the extensions of each others' hearts and Keys, parrying and deflecting the incoming blasts, their blades leaving behind streaks of goldish-red light and bluish darkness.

---------

On the shores of paradise, their friends would watch, and listen, and wait. They would have faith in those they had come to know as friends, as comrades, and family.

They would watch and wait as the sun dipped over the horizon, as the stars slowly began to shine down upon the pure oceans of Destiny Islands.

They had come too far to watch everything they had worked so hard to preserve, the worlds they had saved, the stars they had reached, the people that they had waited and search for...

---------

_...Fade._

~---------~

**Author's Note:** Darn it. A bit of an abrupt cliffhanger, but I was running out of ideas and nothing else was going to work. I hope I did the blasted thing justice, though - it's been bugging me midnight Monday morning, practically kidnapped me since I started writing it second period (in _Chemistry class_), and I prefer this version to the one in my notebook. (Oi, vey, _that_ had an ending that didn't make _any_ sense...)

This is my first - and hopefully not my last - work here in . I have lurked for ages - since I was 10, actually - but never did I gather up the guts to actually sign up and put up something until now. One-shots - let alone _song-fics_ - have never been my thing. Same with _serious_ time-skips like no tomorrow. I don't know what kind of rabid plot bunny it was, but it has been taking up residence in my head and it would not leave until it was done. Actually, it went so far as to whack me upside the head with a heavy blunt object, tie me up, and then hold me for ransom until I got it finished. I had _no_ control over my pencil at the time, I _swear._

However, this has given me a sense of pride. I aim for multi-chapter fics, and unfortunately, due to writer's block and other factors including real life and evolution of style, these fics very rarely get past chapter three. To have a story completed after six years is a very, very good feeling.

If you've read through it all, congrats - you have successfully sat through 3,899 words of something that is liable to make almost _no_ sense and are probably wondering what kind of an idiot I am. Like I said - I had _no_ control over my pencil at the time, _or_ my fingers once they started typing it out; I can only hope that I captured each character well enough that even _without_ the background clues, it would've been obvious as to who they were.

I'm putting this here at the end so that it's conveniently near the button in I'm about to address - you know, the one that says "Review this Story/Chapter"? Yes, that one. Whoever reads this little work of mine (I've written longer - _much_ longer), I am requesting that you review. If you don't have anything to say about it, then don't click the button. If you _do_ - namely to point out areas of improvement - then by all means, click the button and let me know. I came here to improve my writing, and the best way for me to do that is with reviews.

Flames, however, will be used for the next barbecue, which will revolve a central dish of internet troll, medium rare to well done and extra crispy.

With many thanks (and sincerest of apologies to the confused),

_- Kestrel Harper_


End file.
